Shloka 49
Bhīṣma’s Śara-śayyā Stuti to Vāsudeva and Yogic Preparation for Dehotsarga
Body-Relinquishment
जिन्होंने तीनों लोकोंका हित करनेके लिये यज्ञमय वराहका स्वरूप धारण करके इस पृथ्वीको रसातलसे ऊपर उठाया था, उन वीर्यस्वरूप भगवान्को प्रणाम है ।। यः शेते योगमास्थाय पर्यड्के नागभूषिते | फणासहस्ररचिते तस्मै निद्रात्मने नम:,जो अपनी योगमायाका आश्रय लेकर शेषनागके हजार फनोंसे बने हुए पलंगपर शयन करते हैं, उन निद्रास्वरूप परमात्माको नमस्कार है
yaḥ śete yogam āsthāya paryaṅke nāgabhūṣite | phaṇāsahasraracite tasmai nidrātmane namaḥ ||
यः शेते योगमास्थाय पर्यङ्के नागभूषिते । फणासहस्ररचिते तस्मै निद्रात्मने नमः ॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches reverent recognition of the Supreme Lord’s quiet sovereignty: even in ‘sleep’ he sustains and protects the cosmos through yoga. Ethically, it models humility and devotion—acknowledging that worldly order and welfare rest on a higher, steady principle beyond human power.
In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma is instructing and also offering hymnic salutations. Here he praises the Lord (Vishnu/Narayana) as reclining on Śeṣa’s thousand-hooded couch, invoking the image of cosmic repose that underlies creation’s stability.